Data modelling in the SFWO

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The SFWO can be used to provide detailed descriptions of the trophic behaviour of an organism, including its diet, feeding guild, trophic group, trophic interactions in which it is involved, etc. The following diagram shows the data modelling approach adopted by the SFWO to represent the fact that “Carabus auratus is a predator”:

Note the diagram shows different ways to represent the same information:

• Carabus auratus, is_a, predator (feeding guild)
• Carabus auratus, has_quality, predaceous (diet)
• Carabus auratus, member_of, Coleoptera.predators (trophic group)
• Carabus auratus, capable_of, predation (trophic process)

These representations are logically equivalent within the SFWO, and any representation can be logically deduced from any other by inference.

The SFWO can also be used to describe trophic interactions between a consumer and a resource. The following diagram shows the data modelling approach adopted by the SFWO to represent the fact that “Carabus auratus feeds on Lumbricidae”.